The battery maker is in the process of building a 100 megawatt-hour assembly plant in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh and the company is working closely with the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai, Chief Executive Officer S. Vijayanand said in an interview in New Delhi.

Swaps that guard against a default for five years have climbed 172 basis points this year to 311 basis points, according to data provider CMA. That’s more than twice the biggest increase among CDS of 18 other auto-industry players globally tracked by Bloomberg.

The Stormes will be replacing the ageing fleet of Maruti Suzuki Gypsies that the Army has been primarily using as 4x4 light vehicles. In 2017, Tata Motors Ltd signed a contract with the Army for supply of 3,192 Stormes in the first phase. Nearly 35,000 Gypsies are likely to be replaced in the next few years.

BlackBerry will provide its infotainment and security software to JLR, in the Canadian firm's latest licensing deal for its autonomous-driving technology after similar agreements with Qualcomm, Baidu and Aptiv.

Facing a shareholders' voting on December 22 in an EGM called by Tata Sons to oust him as director of Tata Motors, Mistry also said the company's cash cow JLR is at a critical juncture facing "many challenges" as well as opportunities.

In fact, segment leaders like Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp have reported de-growth of 34.3 per cent, 45 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively giving a clear indication of a prolonged slowdown in the sector.